Adams in Middle East Peace Mission

Speaking to An Phoblacht from Palestine on Wednesday afternoon, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, on a two-day peace mission to the Middle East, said that in discussions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with representatives of all the political groups in the Palestinian Assembly and with Israeli and Palestinian NGOs he had a clear sense that the Palestinian leadership wants the political process put back on the rails and for progress to be made.

'War is not the only option'

Speaking to An Phoblacht from Palestine on Wednesday afternoon, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, on a two-day peace mission to the Middle East, said that in discussions with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, with representatives of all the political groups in the Palestinian Assembly and with Israeli and Palestinian NGOs he had a clear sense that the Palestinian leadership wants the political process put back on the rails and for progress to be made.

He pointed out that 43 members of the Palestinian Assembly are in prison, including the Speaker and cabinet ministers and said the Palestinian peace process was being "bled to death".

He said the position of the EU, in punishing the Palestinian people for casting their votes in a certain way in an election that was supervised and verified by reputable international bodies and declared to be free and fair was "absolutely wrong".

Adams, who is in the Middle East at the invitation of the Palestinian President, said that he told the Palestinians that Irish people understood partition, occupation and the dispossession of lands. "The area we are driving through right now is bisected by a huge wall built by the Israelis", he pointed out.

The Sinn Féin President held a meeting with the Palestinian President's staff and advisors on Wednesday afternoon and he spoke to President Abbas by phone.

Following his meeting at the Negotiations Affairs HQ Adams toured various sites in Ramallah. He laid a wreath at the grave of former Palestinian President Arafat and also visited Ramallah Hospital, a refugee camp and Headquarters of the Red Crescent.

In Jerusalem on Tuesday evening on his arrival in the region Adams said the purpose of his visit was to encourage the search for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It had been the Sinn Féin President's intention for some time to visit Palestine and there was a long standing invitation from Abu Ammar President Arafat which Adams said he regretted very much not being able to take up while Arafat was alive. Various arrangements were cancelled because of the demands of the process in Ireland or of priorities in Palestine. Adams said that when President Arafat died he resolved to wait no longer and it had taken from then to fulfil that commitment.

He said Irish republicans were very concerned about the suffering of people in the region. Sinn Féin had no magic formula to resolve the problems but believed they could be resolved. "The Anglo-Irish conflict was once labelled as intractable. Talk of peace and of peace processes was dismissed as nonsense, as fantasy. But we proved the pessimists and cynics wrong", he said.

He went on: "Irish republicans are internationalists. We take a close interest in events outside of Ireland and we are always willing to learn and to share our experience with others seeking to build peaceful alternatives to conflict. Political will and courage in seeking peaceful alternatives to conflict is essential.

"There is an enormous responsibility on political leaders and especially on governments to find peaceful alternatives. Governments have a responsibility to give leadership which is hope and life giving. That is the big challenge facing the Israeli government.

"In my view the future security, strategic interests, freedom and rights of the people of Israel are locked into an acceptance, respect, recognition and defence by Israel of the rights, freedom and prospects of the people of Palestine. War is not the only option.

"Building a political alternative, constructing a peace process which can deal with the causes of a conflict, and which can provide stability, justice and democracy, is an option also and one which would have the support of right thinking people worldwide.

"Of course the difficulties here are enormous. The conflict affects every aspect of peoples daily lives in Palestine and in Israel.

"The hostile reaction of the Israeli government, of the EU and of the United States to the election results earlier this year have compounded these difficulties. The withdrawal of financial support to the Palestinian government and the increase in violence is entirely counterproductive.

"What is required is inclusive dialogue based on equality and parity of esteem. It is patently obvious after decades of conflict that there can be no military solution to what is essentially a political problem.

"Irish republicans do not assume that what has worked in Ireland is relevant to every other situation. But we have learned that there are key principles which are applicable in any process of conflict resolution. These include inclusive dialogue,recognising democratic mandates and upholding human rights.

Adams said it was for people in the region to work out and agree solutions. He appealed to all political leaders to make a fresh effort to rebuild the peace process.

"All of us have to have an acceptance and openness toward other cultures. The notion that western culture or civilisation is better than any other is bogus. All cultures can learn from each other and change accordingly, peacefully and democratically. Suppression is not the way", Adams said.

"The role of the International Community and United Nations is crucial in all of this. So too is the role of the US government. The US, as a strong ally of Israel, has a key role to play.

"In the Irish Peace Process the US played a positive and encouraging role, recognising all of the democratic mandates of the participants, supporting dialogue, and dealing with everyone on the basis of equality. I would strongly urge a similar approach in respect of any efforts to rebuild the peace process here.

"What is clearly required is a comprehensive and inclusive settlement. Such a settlement must be rooted on the rights of the people of Palestine and the people of Israel to live in mutual respect, security and peaceful co-existence and co-operation. Israelis and Palestinians have more to gain from peace than continuing conflict", he said.

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Comments (13 of 13)

It is encouraging that Adams should explain that the nihilism of more than 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland and the benefits of the peace process are a model that could work in the Middle East if the Palestinians and Israelis would only give it a try.
The solution to most conflicts if quid pro quo.
But if we analyse the situation this is a conflict were no possibility exists.

(1) ISRAEL
Israel occupied Sinai, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan since 1967 because these areas were used a staging posts by the armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan before a planned strike into Israel.
Israel needed to use the areas as buffer areas especially the West Bank because at its narrowest point Israel proper is less than ten miles wide. Israel used the settlement movement as cover to place its military on Palestinian soil to consolidate its position and that has been the situation ever since. Israelis know that if they are not militarily strong or if their power is shown to be a bluff then the Arab enemies who surround them will again attempt to wipe the country off the map.
If Arab nationalists and Islamic fundementalists tommorrow accepted the right of Israel to exist and disarmed and abandoned their quest to liquidation Israel and the Jewish people then Israel would happily give back the West Bank and Gaza and live side by side with a Palestinian state.

(2)PALESTINE
In 1948 Palestinians were forced to flee as Israel established itself and suffered the disastrous defeat in 1967 which has led to the occupation of almost 40 years. Most Palestinians have been radicalised by this long period. Westerners like to pretend that Palestinians will be happy with a state consisting of the West Bank and Gaza. However most Palestinians demand the right to return to former Palestinians lands in what is now Israel and the destruction of the Zionist state and the expulsion or liquidation of the entire Jewish population and its replacement with an Islamic state that would become part of the greater Islamic Capliphate of a unified Middle East once American forces are expelled from Iraq and elsewhere. Most Palestinians would like a West Bank/Gaza state temporarily for the purpose as a staging post for the final assault to destroy the Jews.

The solution as Israeli see it to be garanteed its security, the end of attacks both guerilla or conventional military against Israel.

The solutions as most Palestinians see it is the end of the state of Israel and a global jihad against the infidel West because the struggle with Israel (The Little Satan) is only one battle in the greater struggle of Islam to defeat the US (The Great Satan) and conquer the entire world for Islam.

The division between Loyalist and Republicans was superficially one of religion - for much of the troubles the violence was random murder of innocent Catholics by Protest sectarian thugs or the random murder of Protestants by Catholic sectarian thugs - however the conflict was a struggle by nationalist to unify Ireland and loyalists to remain part of Britain - the conflict was really political not religious. Sectarianism was more tribal than theological.

However while most Israelis simply want security for their democratic state the Palestinians are not interested in a rational political solution - they want to rid the Land of Islam of Jews, who are infidels in the eyes of Muslims. The solution that Palestinians seek is not peace with the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state - it is the establishment of Islam worldwide by force.

Jimmy, It's Isreal who are invading Palistine here! Palistine's a secular democracy and Isreal's a religous state, who treat muslims in their own boarders like animals, and bomb muslims outside their boarders.
Look at Isreals history, I doubt you'll find much evidence of them wanting to live peacefully along-side the muslims. It is the muslims who disinfracised, poverty stricken and have no sense of security.
I agree that both sides have done terrible things, and that there are alot of ordinary people in the middle who just want to get on with life. But your beliefs in the Isreali state's morality and progresion towards peace are myths.

Israel will defend the rights and freedoms of the people of Palestine,
like US.Army defends the rights and freedoms of the Iraqis

If only the Imperialist Stormtroopers could knock the spirit of Resistance clean out of their heads, and get them to surrender weapons, the job of 'defending' them to death would be so much more pleasant, n'est ce pas? Them fish are not supposed to shoot back from their barrel, gawd-dammit!

And that is where you come in, Sock-Puppet, dribbling brainsoftening inanity all over the proud Resistance, preaching 'International Community', UN, Uncle Tom, the White Man's Burden - horseshit !!

You have taken the Soup, become a tragic parody, manipulated by powers you fail to understand - but there is no way back.

Can you even imagine that you were 'pacified' so the Brits could move on militarily to more profitable ventures - like the middle east?

Israel is a religeous state and Palestinian is a secular democracy! That's why Hamas won in the last elections. Hamas of course is a secular movement who calles for freedom and equal rights for all, not for a religeous Muslim state from the sea to the river.
Palestinian is a secular democracy! Maybe that's why gays from the west bank flee to Israel, in fear for their lives.
Palestinian is a secular democracy! Maybe that's why girls who dated guys their family didn't approve are sent to bomb themselves, and are promised that in heaven they'll gain a decent husband. Or they are just killed.
Palestinian is a secular democracy! Maybe that's why they treat Christians awfully.

Really the reason that there is conflict is because Jews in Israel want the “Holy Land” for themselves and do not want to share it. Really they attack p is because they do not fight and if they do fight back America only see that ALL Muslims are terrorist , which in fact is wrong because that completely contradicts there beliefs, and go with Israelis side and just do and believe anything Israeli say to them. So now Israelis have Nuclear weapons and in the case of any religion (like Christians) this is a bad thing because now really the land is theses and they are probably going to want more!

Gerry Adams political party Provisional Sinn Fein has been receiving funding and political training from the CIA front the National Endowment for Democracy for well over a decade . The Anglo Irish Peace Process itself is praised and held up as a successful strategy for defeating insurgency by the likes of Neo Con and hawk Richard Haas , who in his speech to the National Committee on American Foreign Policy urged that the US and its allies use the Anglo Irish Peace Process as a template for the defeat of insurgency and struggles ofr national sovereignty on a global basis .

Adams visit to the middle east is simply part of this process . He is a persuader for colonialism and imperialism not only in his opwn country but now on an international level .

Founded in the early 1980s by Ronald Reagan the National Endowment for Democracy was given its breif to "support democratic institutions throughout the world through private, nongovernmental efforts." Thats an Orwellian turn of phrase for covert political activity . It not only funds but trains advises and influences political parties , individual politicians , media figures and organisations to promote a brand of politics which promote the interests of the US government and its imperialist associates including Britain . As it is global agency for US intelligence it is heavily supported by and engaged with intelligence agencies on a global level , particularly its key ally Britain .
Since its inception CIA bigwigs have featured heavily among the NEDs board of directors . Such distinguished CIA luminaries at the helm of the NED include John Negroponte ,Otto Reich, Henry Cisneros and Elliot Abrams . It is curently presided over by Vin Weber, former Republican congressman from the state of Minnesota, founder of the ultraconservative Empower America association and fundraiser for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush in the year 2000 .
In 2004 during his state of the Union address George Bush praised the organisations work and announced he was doubling its budget . Bush announced its "" new tasks would focus on the promotion of free elections, free exchange, freedom of press and trade union freedom in the Middle East"" . In reality the US needs the form of politics promoted by the NED to complement its military and geo political ambitions and interests in the region . One shudders to think about the type of train unions George Bush wants to sponsor in the Middle East through his CIA proxy .

Since its funding has been doubled by Bush it has dramatically upped its interference in Venezuela , Cuba and the Middle East in its attempts to shape global geopolitics in imperialist interests . Political training , conditioning , advice on personal presentation , handling the media etc is given to what it would regard as freindly political groupings , those which can be counted upon to assist American and imperialist interests .

Throughout the 1980s it heavily targetted Ireland rendering major assistance of this nature to the SDLP and using the group as a proxy to counter the rise of Sinn Fein . Sinn Fein regularly denounced the SDLP as a CIA puppet for receiving political funding and training from the NED and the organisations it funded in Ireland , primarily the International Fund for Ireland . The IFI ensured that US funding for disadvantaged nationalist areas in the north went into the coffers of the solidly pro SDLP Catholic Church as well as community boards dominated by SDLP members . They in turn would distribute the funds and decide who got what . The British governemnt followed suit with its ACE schemes , again concentrating the meagre employment and bare subsistence wags opportunities they offered to places like west Belfast in the hands of the catholic church and the SDLP .

In the early 90s howwever the leaders of Sinn Fein and the SDLP entered into a still secret pact known as the " Hume Adams Agreement" . The 2 leaders presented the document to the British, Irish and American administraions although refused point blank to permit their own embership to read the document , which is still forbidden . Although the contents of the Hume Adams document are still secret the change in attitude from the US administration and the NED towards Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams from then on was remarkable . Almost immediately Gerry Adams was granted a VISA to visit and fundraise in the United Sates , under the patronage of current Homeland security cheif and notorious right winger Peter King . Like the NED and its sister organisations King has also long been to the forefront of US attempts to undermine Cuba , being a leading supporter of the despicable economic blockade .
Soon afer this, resistance to British rule in Ireland ended and Sinn Fein itself began to benefit directly from the NED and its front organisation the International Fund for Ireland . Sinn Fein was trained and advised in media techniques , management and presentation . Pro Sinn Fein media such as the Andersonstown News group became recipents of major funding , even from the British governemnt itself which funds it to the tune of millions . In New York Adams able to bypass the traditional blue collar NORAID structures and opt instead for the corporate freinds of sinn fein and thousand dollar a plate dinners in the waldorf Astoria . All of this following a secret pact with NED and long time Whitehouse sponsored John Hume . The Hume Adams document has been acknowleged by all the players and governemnts as the cornerstone of the Anglo Irish peace process .

Once involved in this process thanks to the NED America effectively dictated the terms of the seperatist movements surrender , using a carrot and stick approach . They sent their envoy George Mitchell to Ireland to effectively draw up the insurgencies terms of surrender , which were pretty unconditional and included the full surrender of arms while recognising and accepting the violation of Irish sovereignty and the partiton of the nation as no longer a crime , while resistance to it was fully criminalised . In return for American largesse and NED sposnored funding and training Sinn Fein was obliged to jump through hoop after hoop whilst at the same time using a former insurgent body as a political policing outift to suppress political dissent from within their community by arresting , interrogating , beating and torturing and even murdering political opponents from within the insurgent base . A disgraceful tactic Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah would be all too familiar with and require little advice from Gerry Adams on as regards how to go about it .

Following the implementation of the American sponsored GFA and the George Mitchell principles the Irish players were rewarded with various trinkets and trophies . NED frontman Hume got not only a Noble Peace prize but was also rewarded by the US administration with the Raytheon factory being sited in Derry . Despite sinn fein dominating the area in which Raytheon is sited politically they have made no concrete attempts whatsover to have these merchants of death removed from the locality , despite Raytheon products causing horrific death and injury to Palestinians and thousands of others right accross the middle east . Very simply the situation Sinn Fein find themself in as regards the NED and its offshoots is that to take steps to remove Raytheon from Derry would run counter to US interests . This would incur the wrath of the CIA and its front organisation the National Endowment for Democracy , so it wont happen .

So it is with this hypocrital baggage in tow that Adams visits Palestine . The lessons of the Anglo Irish peace process he wants to persuade them of are the lessons of being bought off , of impelmenting the political vision of the CIA and the US state department , of viciously suppressing political dissent and upholding a statelet which is in direct violation of the national sovereignty , dignity and honour of the occupied , of surrendering all resistance , surrendering arms , surrendering ideology in return for CIA sponsored grants and Whitehouse acclaim . In effect becoming ones own policeman , jailer , exploiter and oppressor . Thats what the National Endowment for Democracy is all about and thats what those it trains and promotes are all about from Cuba , to Venezuela , Haiti , Nicaragua the Middle east and Ireland .

former CIA agent Philip Agee on the origins and workings of the NED and how it aims to shape Cuban politics in American interests

During the Cold War years the CIA funded a cultural front called the Congress for Cultural Freedom, which ran all kinds of highbrow international conferences on artistic, philosophical, historical and other interesting topics, in North America and Western Europe. Lots of free booze and free hotel accomodation was thrown in for big name participants. Money was also supplied to fund an England-based intellectual monthly called Encounter. This latter covered the arts, current affairs, science and economics. It constantly supported US foreign policy but was liberal on many other matters. The poet Stephen Spender edited it for many years. Funnily enough, Conor Cruise O'Brien (I can hear Pavlov's dogs salivating at his mention) was the first intellectual to write suspiciously about Encounter's pro-US govt stanc. See a description of Frances Saunders' book, Who Paid the Piper?, about CIA fronting during the 1950-1975 period in Granta:

""From 1998 to the present, NDI responded to requests for assistance through a three-part program that included the following: a seminar for Assembly members called "The Politics of Governing: Political Parties and the Northern Ireland Assembly; a consultative visit for party leaders to South Africa to investigate party relationships in the executive and the Assembly in the context of power-sharing relationships; and a multiparty workshop to provide Assembly members with comparative examples of committee structure and operations and to strengthen the capacity of committees to play an effective role in the lawmaking process, oversee the executive and provide opportunity for citizen input.

Many political parties asked NDI for further assistance to better address the political party development and emerging leadership challenges that naturally occurred when the parties were elected to the Assembly and to the Executive. These challenges include communication between the party leadership, headquarters and the assembly party, strengthening the leadership skills of newly emerging lower-level party leaders, and strengthening constituent relations.

To respond to these requests, NDI launched a Political Leadership and Advanced Skills Program in an effort to build upon the existing skills and knowledge of emerging political party leaders in Northern Ireland. NDI's Political Leadership and Advanced Skills Program benefits emerging leaders by strengthening leadership skills, intra and inter-party communications, internal party democracy and advanced constituent relations skills. Northern Ireland political parties are in turn strengthened through concrete party-building projects that each participant proposed and will implement with the assistance of international expert trainers.

Following an application process, the Political Leadership and Advanced Skills Program began as a five day residential program (December 6 to 10, 2000) in Northern Ireland, comprising five intensive advanced skills training modules for a total of 18 participants from seven political parties. Five experts representing political parties from South Africa, Canada and the United States conducted the intensive training program. The most important component - the participants' party building projects - was refined during this phase of the program. ....

...... Concurrent with the establishment of the Assembly, NDI began a program to assist the political parties in the legislature in their capacity as implementors of the Agreement with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

NDI has contributed to facilitating dialogue between political parties and strengthening a nonviolent and democratic political process in Northern Ireland since 1985 by providing party-building assistance to a widening circle of parties. In June 1994, NDI began a program to strengthen political parties and the practice of politics in Northern Ireland while examining issues of politics in a divided society.

In June 1997, in cooperation with the McCormack Institute at the University of Massachusetts, NDI brought together 27 leaders from nine Northern Irish political parties with more than two dozen of the South Africans who actually negotiated the historic transition to all-race elections and democratic rule. The program, which was conducted before the Belfast talks that led to the Agreement, took place at a secluded military air base in the Western Cape where participants were isolated from political distractions.......

...... In September, NDI sent an assessment team to Belfast to consult with political leaders on ways in which NDI could assist political parties in the new Assembly. Across the board, leaders welcomed NDI assistance, and as a result, NDI is continuing to assist political parties in the new Northern Ireland Assembly in the specific context of the evolving peace and reconciliation process

Peter King is not head of Homeland Security. He was chairman of the Homeland Security Committee of the U.S House of Representatives when the Republicans were in control. Since the last election the Democrats control Congress. And King is the 'ranking member' Republican on the Committee.

Haass is not a Neo Con. He's more in the 'realist' camp of foreign policy.

But U.S involvement in Ireland needs much further analysis. After WW11 the U.S. began to pick up the pieces as the British empire fell apart. And the 'Peace Process' must be seen in this light.